Predictors of hospital mortality in adult trauma patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for advanced life support: a retrospective cohort study

Background: Using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to provide advanced life support in adult trauma patients remains a controversial issue now. The study was aimed at identifying the independent predictors of hospital mortality in adult trauma patients receiving ECMO for advanced cardiopulmonary dysfunctions. Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 36 adult trauma patients receiving ECMO due to advanced shock or respiratory failure in a level I trauma center between August 2006 and October 2014. Variables collected for analysis were demographics, serum biomarkers, characteristics of trauma, injury severity score (ISS), damage-control interventions, indications of ECMO, and associated complications. The outcomes were hospital mortality and hemorrhage on ECMO. The multivariate logistic regression method was used to identify the independent prognostic predictors for the outcomes. Results: The medians of age and ISS were 36 (27-49) years and 29 (19-45). Twenty-three patients received damage-control interventions before ECMO. Among the 36 trauma patients, 14 received ECMO due to shock and 22 for respiratory failure. The complications of ECMO are major hemorrhages (n = 12), acute renal failure requiring hemodialysis (n = 10), and major brain events (n = 7). There were 15 patients died in hospital, and 9 of them were in the shock group. Conclusions: The severity of trauma and the type of cardiopulmonary dysfunction significantly affected the outcomes of ECMO used for sustaining patients with post-traumatic cardiopulmonary dysfunction. Hemorrhage on ECMO remained a concern while the device was required soon after trauma, although a heparin-minimized protocol was adopted.